Washington – Deputy U.S. marshals today arrested 15 Most Wanted fugitive
Clyde Hall Jr., a career sex offender who violated conditions of release
and failed to register as a sex offender. Members of the United States
Marshals Service’s Maine Violent Offender Task Force apprehended Hall
without incident earlier this morning on Congress Street in Portland,
Maine. The fugitive had been on the run since March 2012 and was added to
the USMS 15 Most Wanted list Sept. 12, 2012, becoming the first person
added to the list who had violated the Adam Walsh Child Protection and
Safety Act (AWA).

“Clyde Hall is a violent convicted sex offender
who was a threat to innocent, law-abiding citizens,” said Director Stacia
Hylton of the U.S. Marshals Service. “Deputy U.S. Marshals make it a
priority each day to locate and apprehend sex offenders who fail to comply
with state registry requirements designed to keep the public safe. Hall’s
arrest today makes our communities safer.”

Hall was released from
the Butner Federal Correctional Institution in North Carolina in March
2012, after serving a 25-month sentence based on his conviction in the
Northern District of New York for violating the AWA as a convicted sex
offender. Conditions of his release required him to report to a halfway
house in Albany, N.Y. However, he failed to meet with his assigned
probation officer and check in at the halfway house, prompting the issuance
of an arrest warrant March 12, 2013.

U.S. Marshal David McNulty of
the Northern District of New York said, “I want to express my sincere
gratitude to the men and women of the U.S. Marshals Service in Northern New
York and throughout the country who devoted countless hours to ensure this
career sex offender was taken off the streets. Hopefully his apprehension
will mean he never has the chance to victimize anyone ever again.”

Deputy U.S. marshals in Albany led the investigation which involved many
USMS district and division offices, including the Maine task force.
Investigative leads directed the deputies to Portland, where they scoured
the city in search of Hall. Deputies and task force officers spotted a man
matching his description, approached the individual, identified themselves
as deputy marshals, and took Hall into custody without incident.

Deputy U.S. marshals booked and processed Hall in Portland, where he made
an initial appearance before a federal magistrate judge. He awaits a return
to Albany.

U.S. Marshal Noel March of the District of Maine said of
the arrest, “If a fugitive chooses Maine to hide out, he’s made a big
mistake. The men and women of our Maine Violent Offender Task Force make it
their priority to investigate, locate and apprehend those who are wanted by
the courts, regardless of the jurisdiction from which they are on the run.”

The ‘America’s Most Wanted’ television program featured Hall in June
2012 and detailed his violent, abusive history dating back to 1985. The
state of New York labeled Hall a Tier III sex offender, its most dangerous
sex offender classification.

The U.S. Marshals Service’s “15 Most
Wanted” fugitive program draws attention to some of the country’s most
dangerous and high-profile fugitives. These fugitives tend to be career
criminals with histories of violence, and they pose a significant threat to
public safety. Generally, “15 Most Wanted” fugitives are considered the
“worst of the worst” and can include murderers, sex offenders, major drug
kingpins, organized crime figures and individuals wanted for high-profile
financial crimes. Since the program began in 1983, 225 “15 Most Wanted”
fugitives have been arrested.